LWD 2

Chapter 2. Reunion

“Hey, did you know Ye-won?”

Kyung-min continued her question while glancing at Ye-won, whose eyes had widened.

The answer came in a cheerful voice.

“She was one year ahead of me. I was in the Department of Russian Language and Literature, while Senior Ye-won was in the Department of English Literature. Right, Senior?”

“Ah… I…”

“Didn’t you say Ye-won came through the Academic Credit Bank System?”

Kyung-min cut into the conversation and pointed out the fact.

It was an uncomfortable subject if they went deeper.

Ye-won covered the back of her neck, where sweat had started to form, and answered with difficulty.

“…I dropped out of university.”

“Why?”

“…Studying was difficult.”

“Someone who found it difficult to get a bachelor’s degree managed to graduate from a graduate school of interpretation and translation?”

“Well, I grew up a little later in life…”

As Ye-won mumbled through her embarrassment, Su-young cheerfully joined in.

“Oh, you dropped out. No wonder. When I came back from studying abroad, I couldn’t see you around anymore.”

Those words gave Ye-won some relief.

It seemed that was all Su-young knew.

She had probably only seen Ye-won from a distance a few times.

Ye-won hoped Su-young’s curiosity would be satisfied with that and that the conversation would end there.

But Kyung-min deliberately pulled the topic back.

“But what was Ye-won famous for?”

“Because she was beautiful.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

Kyung-min agreed and smiled brightly at Ye-won.

Su-young became even more excited.

“When I was in university, Seoul National University had three famous goddesses. Senior Ye-won was known as the queen of pure and innocent beauty among them.”

“Ooh, innocent beauty is the best at that age.”

“Exactly. There were probably a truckload of male students who liked Senior Ye-won. But she was always in the library and completely hopeless at dating. Ah, I don’t mean that in a bad way. I just mean she was such a model student…”

“So she was untouchable.”

“Exactly! She felt like some sacred place you shouldn’t dare approach. There were so many male students secretly suffering because they liked her. But then, all of a sudden, news spread that she was engaged, and apparently the sales at the humanities students’ favorite bar doubled…”

Bang!

Ye-won slammed her hand onto the desk and stood up.

“I have something to do, so I’ll leave first. I’m sorry.”

It was a day with worse luck than any day when every possible Murphy’s Law seemed to happen at once.

For no reason, Ye-won spent another fifteen minutes wasting time in the restroom before finally leaving the building.

Today’s event had ended, and the staff and guests had already left like the tide going out.

Still, this was always a crowded place, and many people continued to pass by without meaning.

Adjusting her shoulder bag, Ye-won walked straight ahead without looking around.

It was an evening in late August, with two days left in the month.

The huge buildings and granite pavement were sinking into the evening darkness.

The cicadas in the roadside trees, their wide leaves spread open, still screamed noisily as if summer would never end.

The weight pressing down on Ye-won’s head seemed to reach all the way to her legs, and her walking gradually slowed.

Seven years ago, that day had also been in this season.

A season when burning hot afternoons and cool nights crossed each other.

A season when the deep green leaves showed off their life without knowing they would soon dry up and fall.

Ye-won violently shook her head, trying to push away the memories slowly rising in her mind.

Don’t think about it.

She had rubbed away the part of her mind where those memories were carved, over and over, as if using sandpaper.

She had scraped them away, scraped them away again, and scraped them away once more.

She had used every bit of strength she had to erase memories that kept coming back no matter how hard she tried.

And eventually, they had become faint.

But then, without warning, that man had appeared again…

Biting down on the bitter unfairness she felt, Ye-won kept walking.

By the time she had left the huge COEX area, her steps had reached the pavement beside the road.

Suddenly, the feet that had been moving while she stared at the ground stopped.

It was because of a long shadow created by a streetlight.

The shadow blocking her path began at her feet and stretched upward, covering her legs and then her waist.

Ye-won’s eyes, which had landed on the polished men’s shoes, slowly traveled upward toward the owner of the shadow.

Well-fitting navy slacks.

A suit jacket with the buttons undone.

Then a white dress shirt and a simple gray tie.

Ye-won sharply inhaled and tilted her head back.

The face she had sensed from the moment their shadows touched was right in front of her.

“It’s been a long time.”

The voice that had sounded distant the first time was clear now.

“I’m glad we ran into each other twice today.”

The man’s face, which had been blurry in her vision before, was now clearly in front of her.

All the time she had deliberately wasted inside the building had been useless.

She had run into him again anyway.

Yes.

It was Kang Jae-ha.

A man who always attracted attention because of his exceptional looks and background.

Yet he himself had always kept others at a distance and treated the world with cold indifference.

But Ye-won knew how he changed when he found someone interesting.

He was like dark chocolate—something he could not leave alone once he had taken a bite.

You’re interesting.

That arrogant voice had always seemed to follow.

And now, half of that interest was visible in Kang Jae-ha’s expression.

Ye-won had known this moment would eventually come.

She had even prepared what she would say if she ever faced him again.

That was why she could put on a mask of calmness and speak in an emotionless voice.

“I think you have mistaken me for someone else. Please excuse me.”

She tried to pass by him, but Jae-ha lightly took one step and blocked her path again.

“Could it be…?”

He looked down at Ye-won, whose expression asked what he was doing.

“Do you have amnesia or something?”

“…”

“It’s not like you’re stupid enough to forget me.”

“…”

The word memory became a sharp blade and stabbed into her chest.

A dull pain spread through her, but Ye-won desperately maintained a polite tone.

“You’re being rude. Please move.”

She had decided to pretend she did not know him until the end, so she did not change her expression of protest.

His smooth features, shaded by the streetlight, showed disbelief.

This overly confident man clearly believed there was no way anyone could fail to recognize him.

“How strange.”

“…?”

“At first, you ran away like you had seen a ghost.”

“…”

“And now you’re acting as if you’ve met your worst enemy.”

“When did I—”

For a moment, Ye-won’s voice rose.

She quickly swallowed the rest of her words.

If she became emotional here, she would only be admitting what he had said.

He had to be a stranger.

She needed to stay calm if she wanted him to believe that.

Ye-won forced herself to change the subject in a dry voice.

“I told you I don’t know who you are, so why are you speaking so casually to me?”

A faint sound, almost like a small breath of laughter, escaped him.

Then he loosened his tie.

His actions seemed to say, What nonsense are you talking about? Why is it suddenly so hot?

After that, he leaned his head forward.

Suddenly, his face came close.

Ye-won’s breath caught.

She remembered this expression.

His usually indifferent eyes would darken as he stared at someone as if nothing else in the world existed except that person.

His lips normally looked firm, but the slightly curved ends of them alone gave them a seductive charm.

Kang Jae-ha’s expression had a devilish attraction that could charm anyone and control them however he wanted.

His eyes openly moved over Ye-won’s tense face as he casually said,

“We’re not strangers who should find it strange to feel familiar with each other, are we?”

When Ye-won’s eyes showed her displeasure, the amusement disappeared from his face.

“…Are we, Shin Ye-won?”

Jae-ha called her name correctly.

That alone proved it.

He remembered the twisted connection they had shared seven years ago.

He even remembered the name of the woman he had been with.

Ye-won’s face became distant and blank as he stared at her as though pressing her down with his gaze.

Don’t pretend you don’t know me. You should have missed me.

That kind of arrogance seemed to be hidden in his dark eyes as they painfully locked with Ye-won’s shaking amber eyes.

Whoosh—

The wind passed through the roadside trees, shaking their leaves.

It was a welcome wind that broke the tense atmosphere between them.

Ye-won quickly turned her eyes away and held onto her reason.

“Ah, now that you mention it, I think I might remember.”

“You might remember?”

“We went to the same university. I remember seeing you a few times while passing by.”

“Passing by?”

His eyes narrowed as if he could not believe what he had just heard.

Ye-won answered carelessly.

“It was nice seeing such an important person again. I’ll be going now.”

She hurriedly took one step.

But her leg stopped immediately.

Jae-ha had grabbed her arm.

When words did not work, he had shamelessly used force.

Ye-won tried to shake his hand off, but her body stumbled, and he held her even more firmly.

His hand wrapped around the bare skin beneath the sleeve of her three-quarter-length blouse.

It was a man’s hand with unusually long fingers and thick joints.

Strangely, his skin was pale, and his nails were neat.

The rough strength of that hand and its warm temperature reminded Ye-won of the sensations from that day.

A tingling feeling traveled up her arm, and Ye-won’s shoulders stiffened.

“What are you doing?”

Ye-won demanded with a serious expression.

It was clearly a protest, but Jae-ha only checked the time on his wristwatch and answered casually.

“Give me a little of your time.”

“What for?”

“Have some tea, hear how you’ve been, talk about old memories, and so on.”

“I have no reason to do that with you.”

“If I give you a good reason, will you make time for me? How about celebrating our reunion?”

“…”

A reunion.

It was ridiculous that he would even say such a thing.

Why was this man acting like this?

They were not close enough for him to block her path, grab her arm, and insist on catching up after all these years.

She had only been involved with him for a short time.

After that had come a long gap of seven years.

If she calculated everything together, it would not even be strange for her to have forgotten his face.

Kang Jae-ha remained relaxed in Ye-won’s frowning eyes.

His face clearly showed that he believed, You’ll only resist for a moment.

Ye-won bit the inside of her lip.

He did not seem likely to let her go easily.

But she had absolutely no intention of giving in to his unreasonable demand.

It seemed she had no choice but to use a drastic method.

“I’m not in a position to do that. Someone is waiting for me at home.”

“Who is waiting for you?”

“My husband.”

“…”

“And my children.”

It was a polite way of scolding him.

What you’re doing right now is bothering a married woman.

The smile on his lips slowly disappeared.

Honk!

A car horn sounded from the road.

The meaningless noise sharpened his focus as his expression changed.

Really?

One of Jae-ha’s straight eyebrows rose as if asking.

That’s right!

Ye-won put strength into her eyes as if answering.

“Now that you understand, please let go of me.”

Jae-ha tilted his head and gave a short, humorless laugh.

Perhaps only now realizing that holding her arm so roughly was rude, the large hand wrapped around her slender arm slowly loosened.

“Then let’s meet next time. For today, let’s just exchange our contact information—”

“Goodbye.”

Before he could take his phone out of his pocket, Ye-won quickly walked away from him.

She was running away again.

But what did it matter how she looked in his eyes now?

Just then, a taxi stopped by the roadside to let out a passenger.

Ye-won quickly got inside.